Unhappy Infosys promoters skip AGM

Infosys’s 36th annual general meeting (AGM) was a non-event with the promoters, who had expressed concerns about the way the company was being run, staying away as they have done since relinquishing all board and management responsibilities three years ago.TNN | June 26, 2017, 07:49 IST

BENGALURU: Infosys’s 36th annual general meeting (AGM) was a non-event with the promoters, who had expressed concerns about the way the company was being run, staying away as they have done since relinquishing all board and management responsibilities three years ago.

The shareholders asked the promoters and the board to downplay their differences in public. While some lauded the contribution of the founders, others expected them to move on. Many expressed overwhelming support for the board and the management as the company is navigating through challenging times even as it faces a shift in the global IT landscape.

Some of the shareholders bid farewell to its non-executive chairman R Seshasayee who will turn 70 and retire from the firm in May next year Seshasayee was appointed as chairman in 2015 after his predecessor KV Kamath stepped down. In a speech, Seshasayee said the board took the founders’ concerns seriously.

“When comments are made by the founders, we consider them even more seriously and respectfully as we all recognise that we are but trustees of an extraordinary institution that has been the result of the labour, foresight and genius of an extraordinary group of founders.” He also promised that for the rest of his tenure, he would focus on improving shareholder value and planning a smooth transition to his successor.

Seshasayee said the company is undertaking three transformations simultaneously to become a next-generation services firm by changing into an innovationled, software plus services company from a traditional IT services company and to an independent board from a promoter-led one.

There would also be a cultural transformation that comes with the induction of global leadership talent.

“None of this is easy. Other players in the industry might have one or the other, but not all three,” he said. Most of the shareholders stuck to their regular demands of more dividends, stock split and bonus shares, a few expressed their dissatisfaction over the on-going tussle between the promoters and the management impacting the company’s performance and its share price.

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